Had the game ended in regulation, the U.S. would've been in that situation. The Swiss team has looked stronger thus far in the tournament, and goalie Jonas Hiller is a player any team would like to avoid — so the Americans have that going for them.

The flipside, though, is that the Czechs and Slovaks both rosters with more NHL players, particularly at forward.

In any case, a Canada-United States matchup could take place in the semifinals. Not that anyone is looking too far ahead.

Neither Canada nor the U.S. can face Russia, Sweden or Finland until the gold-medal game.

— Slovenia and its Seattle Seahawks jerseys, crazy as it sounds, should make the quarterfinals. They looked good in their first two games before running into the U.S., and should be able to take care of Austria. It probably ends there, though. Sweden is banged up, but their talent alone should be enough against the Slovenes.

— Russia, assuming it beats Norway, should face Finland in the quarters. The Finns have been crushed by injuries, particularly up front, but Tuukka Rask is good enough to beat anyone. The Russians, meanwhile, were uneven in their first game against Norway, lost to the U.S. in a shootout and needed another shootout to beat Slovakia.

— The Czech-Slovak game is going to be intense; those teams have battled each other since Czechslovakia broke up, and many of the players grew up playing against each other.

— We're guaranteed to miss out on another United States-Canada final. That's a bummer, but Russia against anyone, really, for gold would make up for a whole lot in the entertainment department.